1. What would Darwin have made of the Human Genome Project?

Comment #125459 by Squirrel on February 11, 2008 at 12:00 pm

I find this bit particularly fascinating. Especially because there is such an amazingly vast difference in cognition between a chicken and a chimp, yet I would posit there is very little (in comparison) difference in cognition between the chimp and us. Indeed, from all that I've seen, a chimp is intellectually equal to a small human child. What, then, is the huge jump of difference between toddler's and adolescence that those other 18 gene changes must represent?

This is the neutralist view of evolution - lucky genes, not selfish genes.

That's not even coherent. I wish people would at least read the work they think they're criticising.

2. Lecture on Sex Ratio Theory and Sexual Selection

Comment #53576 by Squirrel on July 2, 2007 at 5:14 am

Stackoturtles, I suspect you might find information on that in Maynard Smith's book Evolutionary Genetics.

3. Germany imposes ban on Tom Cruise

Comment #52149 by Squirrel on June 26, 2007 at 10:55 am

Doesn't Germany have a church tax? So they're actively complicit in helping the roman catholic cult make money.

4. World's most prominent atheist takes on the Biblical God (and other topics)

Comment #39588 by Squirrel on May 11, 2007 at 8:16 am

Some people above can't see the funny side, and reacted with frustration, e.g.
...
"That was so painful to listen to"
...
Why bother getting all worked up? It's hilarious!

5. World's most prominent atheist takes on the Biblical God (and other topics)

Comment #39257 by Squirrel on May 10, 2007 at 8:24 am

Another flea? That was so painful to listen to I didn't even catch much of the vacuous drivel that was being presented. I can't stand it when people stress every second word in a sentence.

6. Biology teacher fired for referring to Bible

Comment #26573 by Squirrel on March 20, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Well, we all know that ID isn't creationism...wink, wink...

7. Merkel wants EU to be vocal about Christian roots

Comment #23562 by Squirrel on March 1, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Her dad is a Lutheran pastor. Lutherans are mostly pretty tame, but dang, she has a doctorate in physics. I might add that I didn't vote for her.

8. Executing Saddam Hussein was an Act of Vandalism

Comment #16111 by Squirrel on January 4, 2007 at 4:22 pm

I think there are quite possibly a large number of similarly psychopathic individuals in the world; people that share a similar mental and psychological makeup to that of Saddam, that could and already do serve as a source of interesting research data. The only difference between these people and Saddam is circumstance, as Saddam was born into a social context that enabled him to climb into a position of authority that fortunately few other disturbed individuals, particularly in the West, are able to obtain. It is therefore unlikely that an investigation of Saddam would have uncovered answers to scientific questions that could not be equally well answered by studying a typical suburban mass-murderer.

No one was alleging that whatever tipped him over the edge was entirely innate, so the "special context" that sets him apart from your run in the mill psychopath could reveal a thing or two.

9. Divided by a common language: Richard Dawkins clarifies his position

Comment #15690 by Squirrel on January 2, 2007 at 4:44 am

It's not absurd. The comment said "In many European countries". The french and germans an many other countries don't suffer anywhere near as much from the same binge culture the UK does. I have no idea why the UK seems to have this problem, but it's something I 1) cannot understand and 2) abhore.

I agree that the UK is a bad example. The age where you can legally purchase alcohol is actually 16 in Germany (with the exception of spirits), France and many of the surrounding countries. Therefore, it doesn't coincide with the age people go off to university (far away from where they parents can see them)and get caught up in all kinds of peer pressure. Drinking up quickly before all the pubs close might have (had) something to do with it as well. Alcohol is often cheaper than in the UK elsewhere in Europe.

10. The Komodo Dragon's Tale

Comment #14434 by Squirrel on December 22, 2006 at 12:36 pm

Thanks for the read! What a nice break from the usual worn out, threadbare excuses for arguments!

"The Virgin Mary being a mammal, whether she reproduced by cloning or by selfing, the result could only be a daughter. Jesus either had an earthly father, or Jesus was a woman."

If I'm not entirely mistaken, genomic imprinting would prevent such a thing from happening in the first place. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

11. Christmas Present to Defenders of Darwinism

Comment #13993 by Squirrel on December 20, 2006 at 2:26 pm

Oh, I'll bet that there are plenty of people out there who are willing to state that "Mohammed is not God's prophet", including a few Christians.

Surely, the omission of the little addition "since there is no God" shouldn't make much of a difference. Maybe one of them has a bit of spare time to set up a website with videos, or possibly animations - you know, to protect people's identities.

12. Christmas Present to Defenders of Darwinism

Comment #13878 by Squirrel on December 19, 2006 at 11:53 pm

Here he goes again...
http://www.uncommondescent.com/archives/1878

13. Christmas Present to Defenders of Darwinism

Comment #13579 by Squirrel on December 18, 2006 at 2:29 pm

Prof. Miller's response wins my vote:


"Dear Bill,

Thanks for the e-mail. It's great to see what sort of research the Intelligent Design movement is up to these days!

I'd like to help you with the Judge's e-mail, but since I have never had any contact with him outside the courtroom, I have no idea what his e-mail might be. I'm sure he'd be thrilled by the offer to remove "less flattering" sound effects, of course.

I do believe that I can help you with the video, though. As much as I enjoyed it, I was disappointed that it didn't include some of the more amusing events from the trial. Since you've clearly got a little extra time on your hands, why not punch it up a bit with a few more highlights?

For example, how about Bill Buckingham claiming that he never mentioned the word "creationism," and then the video clip showing him doing exactly that? (I can send you the clip if you need it). Or Mike Behe peeking out from behind a stack of 58 papers, 9 books, and a couple of textbooks saying that even this isn't enough to convince him that the immune system evolved? Or, even better, your own DC spokesman for the Discovery Institute (Mark Ryland) claiming that the DI had "never" advocated the teaching of ID in schools, followed by Richard Thompson, in his own voice, waving a copy of Steve Meyer's book which advocated exactly that? I've got that last one on a DVD if you like. You'd love it, Bill - Richard brought down the house at the American Enterprise Institute with that one.

Or, even better, how about the stuff before the trial?

Why not show the pictures of the 8 ID experts who promised the Dover Board that they would be there in court to defend them? … and then you can show 5 of the 8 running away at deposition time. I've even got a sound effects file I can send you of galloping horses, and maybe a scream or two in the background as the dreaded experts from the ACLU-friendly plaintiffs arrive?

Now that would be one heckuva animation!

Best Wishes for a Wonderful Christmas,

Ken"

http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/12/now_thats_a_vid.html

14. Christmas Present to Defenders of Darwinism

Comment #13551 by Squirrel on December 18, 2006 at 10:23 am

"What have you done lately, dopderbeck, to jar Dawkins out of his dogmatic rampage?"

Research might work (If it doesn't, suck it up. Dog's just testing your faith). Obsessing about a handful of prominent proponents of evolution's opinions, on the other hand, might not.

Rather appropriate: "Le Petomane of Information Theory"
http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/12/dembskis_rampag.html#comment-150807

15. Christmas Present to Defenders of Darwinism

Comment #13547 by Squirrel on December 18, 2006 at 8:42 am

"Comment #13536
If Bill D has any sense, that's got to hurt coming from a brilliant man such as Richard Dawkins....lol"

Well...

"The motivation behind the Judge Jones School of Law

by William Dembski on December 17th, 2006 · 1 Comment

The other side is making much about my having attained yet another "new low" in being the creative force behind the Judge Jones School of Law (go to www.overwhelmingevidence.com). Just to be clear, my aim in this flash animation was not to shake up the convictions of convinced Darwinists. Rather, my aim was to render Judge Jones and his decision ridiculous in the eyes of many young people, who from here on will never take Darwinian evolution or him seriously. If the cost of accomplishing this is yet another lowering of my estimation in the eyes of PT or Richard Dawkins, that's a price I'm only too glad to pay — heck, I regard that as a benefit of the deal."
http://www.uncommondescent.com/archives/1871

He obviously holds his target audience in high regard. "Creative force"? I thought I'd missed the punch line the first time I watched it. Turns out I'd just wrongly assumed they'd be able to come up with something just slightly more interesting.

16. Christmas Present to Defenders of Darwinism

Comment #13328 by Squirrel on December 17, 2006 at 4:59 am

Yawn...how imaginative!

As for the animation: I didn't spot anything in there that following the tutorials, which come with the software, won't teach you. If you look up the folks who developed the website, you'll find that they do flash animations and appear to like their faux wooden textures. Come to think about it, "Anonymous Rembrandt's" graphics look sloppy in comparison.

17. Atheists' bleak alternative

Comment #12798 by Squirrel on December 13, 2006 at 11:22 pm

"10. Comment #12791 by Anat on December 13, 2006 at 10:07 pm
I think I need a new irony meter."

I found that juxtaposition quite amusing too. Though commenting on books you don't appear to have actually read seems to be all the rage these days. Even with Letter to a Christian Nation being short enough to read in one sitting...

18. Let's Be Rational

Comment #12634 by Squirrel on December 13, 2006 at 2:38 am

Does anyone else find it odd that the article doesn't mention the title of Dawkins' book once? I suppose this qualifies as yet another case of "I'm an atheist, but...".


"I don't hate religion, in fact I am rather in favour of it; I am like Gibbon, who said admiringly of Roman religious syncretism that the people believed that all religions were equally true, that the philosophers believed them all equally false, and that the magistrates believed them all equally useful, without any of them coming into conflict over the matter. Religion was useful, that is, from the point of view of improving human behaviour and keeping it lawful."

Did he actually read the book? If not, that would certainly explain why he chose to ramble on about an issue that's hardly central to its message.


"To give only one example: the rate of indictable offences has increased 40 times in the country of his birth, Britain, in his lifetime, notwithstanding an enormous increase in wealth and the standard of living as measured by consumption of material goods."

Factual errors aside (country of birth?), are we actually looking at the rate offenses committed or the number that are reported and investigated?


"Progress is possible but not inevitable, and certainly not without its ironies either. (In our new-found happiness, 10 per cent of us feel constrained to take anti-depressants.)"

...as opposed to not having access to proper diagnosis and treatment. A rather pessimistic way of putting it.

19. Sunday Sequence with William Crawley

Comment #12448 by Squirrel on December 12, 2006 at 2:59 am

39. Comment #12208 by Yorker on December 11, 2006 at 9:10 am

"How can a biologist be ignorant of evolution? The entire science is underpinned by it! AC Grayling writes that university standards have fallen and entry too easy, he's wrong, standards are non-existent, fools are given entry.

Am I to understand that biology exams ask no questions about a student's understanding of evolution? I'm amazed at the level we have sunk to."

I'm at Bath and the answer to that question is twofold. Evolution only makes a few brief appearances unless you happen to be on the Biology course, in which case you'll have a compulsory introduction and several evolution related units to choose from. Most everyone else will still assume evolution occurs but you might catch a few invoking group selection. They didn't get the "If I hear any one of you saying evolution happens for the good of the species, I will shoot you...for the good of the species!" memo. A lack of understanding of the mechanisms might be the security flaw the ID virus could exploit, but that might just be me letting my own views influence what I think should be common knowledge too much.

I do think allowing students to drop all but a few subjects after GCSEs is a tad questionable. Something's gone awry when undergraduates don't know how to structure an essay because they dropped English or don't know where in the political spectrum to put the Tories. I'm not making these up, unfortunately.